ReviewSystematic reviews2019
An overview of systematic reviews of complementary and alternative therapies for infantile colic.
Review in Systematic reviews, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06299358 (The Effect of Foot Massage and Maternal Heart Sound on Colic and Comfort Levels in Infants With Infantile Colic), which is not on this map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Effect of Foot Massage and Maternal Heart Sound on Colic and Comfort Levels in Infants With Infantile Colic
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Overview of Systematic Reviews on Treatments for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Assessing Methodological Quality and Mapping Evidence Gaps.American journal of cardiovascular drugs : drugs, devices, and other interventions · 2025Pooled it
- Teledentistry for Improving Access To, and Quality of Oral Health Care: Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- AMSTAR 2 appraisal of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the field of heart failure from high-impact journals.Systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of probiotics on gastrointestinal symptoms, anthropometric measurements, and breastfeeding duration in infants with colic: a randomized control trial.Sao Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina · 2024Trial
- Oral lactase for infantile colic: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.BMC pediatrics · 2022Trial
- Identifying potential treatment effect modifiers of the effectiveness of chiropractic care to infants with colic through prespecified secondary analyses of a randomised controlled trial.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2021Trial
- The effect of chiropractic care on infantile colic: results from a single-blind randomised controlled trial.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2021Trial
- Development of national consensus-based recommendations for history taking, examination and clinical management of infants in chiropractic practice.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2026Article
- Autheem therapy for young Saudi infants: the whys and the impacts.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Acupuncture for the treatment of infantile colic.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Article
- Gut Microecological Prescription: A Novel Approach to Regulating Intestinal Micro-Ecological Balance.International journal of general medicine · 2025Review
- An evidence map on traditional medicine across health outcomes.Integrative medicine research · 2024Article
- Quality of systematic reviews on timing of complementary feeding for early childhood allergy prevention.BMC medical research methodology · 2023Article
- Infantile Colic and Long-Term Outcomes in Childhood: A Narrative Synthesis of the Evidence.Nutrients · 2023Review
- The effect of symbiotic in the treatment of infantile colic: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Journal of research in medical sciences : the official journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences · 2022Article
- A comparison of two assessment tools used in overviews of systematic reviews: ROBIS versus AMSTAR-2.Systematic reviews · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInfantile colic is a distressing condition characterised by excessive crying in the first few months of life. The aim of this research was to update the synthesis of evidence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research literature on infantile colic and establish what evidence is currently available.
methodsMedline, Embase and AMED (via Ovid), Web of Science and Central via Cochrane library were searched from their inception to September 2018. Google Scholar and OpenGrey were searched for grey literature and PROSPERO for ongoing reviews. Published systematic reviews that included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of infants aged up to 1 year, diagnosed with infantile colic using standard diagnostic criteria, were eligible. Reviews of RCTs that assessed the effectiveness of any individual CAM therapy were included. Three reviewers were involved in data extraction and quality assessment using the AMSTAR-2 scale and risk of bias using the ROBIS tool.
resultsSixteen systematic reviews were identified. Probiotics, fennel extract and spinal manipulation show promise to alleviate symptoms of colic, although some concerns remain. Acupuncture and soy are currently not recommended. The majority of the reviews were assessed as having high or unclear risk of bias and low confidence in the findings.
conclusionThere is clearly a need for larger and more methodologically sound RCTs to be conducted on the effectiveness of some CAM therapies for IC. Particular focus on probiotics in non-breastfed infants is pertinent. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO: CRD42018092966.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.